Saturday, June 6, 2015

elephants

Elephants are some of the most incredible animals on the planet. For anyone who believes that animals don't have thoughts or emotions, it takes simply reading up on them for no more than 2 minutes to realize how wrong that is. Much like humans, elephants have a hierarchy, they grieve, they cry, they love, and they have special rituals such as a burial ceremony for the dead. It's impossible to know exactly whats going on in the mind of an elephant, but when a mom sits by her dead baby, crying, for 3 or 4 days and nights straight without moving, we know that theres got to be more there than just instincts. People say the thing that really sets us apart from animals is language, but just because we can't understand it doesn't mean its not there. According to Daily Mail, "They can talk to other elephants 50 miles away through the ground, communicating in ways that we are only just beginning to understand. It is possible that each elephant can recognize up to 100 other individuals by their infrasonic ‘voice’." They communicate not only through sounds, but through small vibrations in the ground. To me this seems even more advanced than humans.
This is an awesome video showing the elephants recognition of death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RiHTSXK2A